USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. III > Part 36
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The last paragraph quoted has undoubted reference to the course of Chief Justice Lander, who, at the time he was asked to hold court for Judge Chenoweth, was captain of the volunteer company raised in Seattle, and then stationed on the Duwamish. It is clear that he might readily have excused himself from holding court outside his district, had he so desired. He had excellent reason for avoiding that service, if he had wished, in the fact that he was then serving the territory in another and very important capacity, and by the terms of that service, as sacred and binding as his oath of office as judge, he was obliged to obey the orders of his superior officers. This was an obligation that could not be readily laid aside, particularly to resume functions in which the order of his superior was certain to be called in
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question, and he compelled to pronounce judgment upon it. Judge Lander claimed, or it was at least claimed for him, that he had not ceased to be judge because he had, with his neighbors, taken up arms for the common defence. This was undoubtedly true, but it was also true that he became a volunteer because his duties as judge permitted. He had put them aside, as the other volunteers had put their business aside, temporarily, for a specified time and purpose, and would resume them again when that time had expired, and the purpose been served, and there was need to do so. The need does not seem to have been urgent, that he should resume them at that time. The case was one calling for the exercise of tact and sound discretion, and by its exercise an exciting difficulty might have been avoided, although much of the criticism and abuse that was being heaped upon the governor at the time would perhaps have been diverted to himself. He appears to have felt that he was in something of a dilemma for, as the record shows, he resigned his office as captain on May Ist, before going to Steilacoom.
The legislature on January 24th passed resolutions declar- ing that, "in thus attempting to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, the governor undertook to exercise a power conferred by the Constitution of the United States on Congress alone, and that in any attempt to interfere with our courts of justice, or to try citizens before a military tribunal, he acted in direct violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States, and that any such attempt to exercise unconstitutional power, tends to the subversion of our Constitution, and calls at our hands for the strongest condemnation." This reso- lution was rescinded by the succeeding legislature, and there the matter, so far as Governor Stevens and the record made are concerned, ended.
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Another incident that may or may not, in some more or less remote way, have grown out of the contest between the governor and the judge, followed soon after Judge Lander's release. On June 9th, an order, in the usual form, was sent from the adjutant-general's office to Lieutenant Denny, who had succeeded Lander in command of his company, directing him to leave eight men to garrison the blockhouse on the Duwamish, and march with the remainder of his command to Fort Hays, at Connell's Prairie, "to assist in cutting a road, to pass certain oxen over from Fort Hays to the falls of the Snoqualmie." Colonel Shaw was then about to start on his campaign across the mountains, and up to that time it had been supposed that he could go more conveniently, and be supplied more certainly by way of the Snoqualmie than by the Nachess Pass. Denny did not carry out this order, but on June 13th wrote Tilton that there seemed to be insuperable obstacles in the way of doing what was required, besides in his opinion more than eight men were needed to defend his post, and the farmers who had returned to the valley, and were growing crops which would be needed during the coming winter, and which they might be required to abandon if their protection was withdrawn.
To this the adjutant-general replied, modifying the order in regard to the number of men to be left, and directed him to procure canoes and go with the remainder by way of the Sound to Steilacoom, whence he would march to Fort Hays by way of Montgomery's. To this Denny replied on the 19th, more particularly discussing the danger of reducing the force at his post, and pointing out the impracticability of doing what he had been directed to do, in the way indi- cated. "A glance at the map," he thought, "would show that the shortest and most practicable route would be up
ARTHUR A. DENNY.
Born near Salem, Ind., June 20, 1822. His family subsequently removed to Knox County, Ill., and in 1851 crossed the plains to Oregon, arriving at Portland, August 22d, and at Alki Point on Puget Sound, Novem- ber 13, 1852. He was leader of the party that explored the site and named the city of Seattle. Was a member of the Monticello convention in November 1852, and of the first House of Representatives after the territory was organized. Was first lieutenant of Company A during the Indian war. Was receiver of the land office at Olympia, and represented the territory for one term in Congress.
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the river to Camp Thomas, and thence by a march of a few miles to Fort Hays." But he could procure canoes for either journey only from the Indians, and to do this would advise them of the reduced force left to protect the town and fort, and invite an attack. He also claimed that by a private understanding between Judge Lander and the governor, the company had been "expressly organized for the protection of this immediate neighborhood; and that for this purpose, as well as for guarding the different avenues leading from the Sound to the interior, and thus preventing the transit of Indians to and from the reserves, its presence here was absolutely indispensable."*
In response to this letter, an order was at once issued, removing Denny from command, and another appointing Lieutenant Neely as his successor, and directing him to carry out the order first given. The reply to this was a letter dated Fort Lander, June 28th, and signed "Company A. W. T. Volunteers," and enclosing a series of resolutions, signed by the officers and all but one of the men of the com- pany. These resolutions endorsed and approved the course of Lieutenant Denny, and declared the confidence of the signers in him as a commander. They pronounced his removal from command "an act of injustice," and " an insult to the company, wholly unjustifiable and uncalled for," and insisted that, "in justice to Lieutenant Denny, the com- mander should reinstate him in his command immediately."
*Denny was mistaken in this, for in his letter of February Ist to Lander, disbanding the company he had first raised, and directing the enlistment of another, the governor had expressly directed him "to accept the services of no volunteers, except for six months, and subject to the order of the executive. . . Every man who enlists must do so with the understanding that he enlists for the general defence of the territory, and that he must move to any point, where his services, in the opinion of the commanding officer, are most needed."
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Here was a case in which the citizen asserted himself, and the soldier forgot himself. These volunteers had not seen enough of military discipline to understand that with soldiers to question is to disobey, and they did not discriminate so far as to present a reasonable and proper request without putting it in highly improper form. Had they acted with more deliberation, particularly if they had learned all the circumstances leading up to this difficulty, they would probably have secured what they wished with but little trouble.
As the incident seems never to have been fully under- stood, it is worth while to state all the particulars in regard to it, so far as they may now be learned from the record. In order to use the Snoqualmie route for marching Shaw's command across the mountains, or supplying it after it reached there, it was necessary to open some sort of road from Fort Hays on White River to the falls. While Shaw was making his preparations, Captain De Lacy, the engineer officer, had been sent to explore a route between these two points, and on June 5th had reported from Montgomery's that it was impracticable to build a wagon road within the time allowed, though a trail for pack animals might be opened. This report Colonel Shaw forwarded to Olympia with a letter to Tilton, in which he said: "Now as every- thing is ready and the wagon train on hand, I propose to abandon the Snoqualmie route, push the wagon train on to the foot of the Nachess Pass with provisions, load the pack animals with forage, and cross at that point without further delay."
This report and letter reached Olympia, where Governor Stevens was then hurriedly making preparation to leave for the Dalles, and was answered by him on the same day,
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approving Shaw's change of plan. Thus the need for doing what Denny was directed to do had disappeared four days before he was directed to do it, as the first order to him was dated June 9th.
During these four days both the governor and the adjutant- general were doubtless very busy in preparing for his absence, and it is now possible to understand the order only on the presumption that it had been determined on before De Lacy's report and Shaw's letter were received, and then laid aside in the hurry of preparing the orders which the changed situa- tion would require, and in getting ready for the governor's departure. When Tilton came to take the matter up again, after the governor had gone, he knew that a wagon road was no longer needed, and therefore the order was made "to assist in cutting a road to pass certain oxen over." When Denny remonstrated against carrying it into effect, the adju- tant-general acted entirely on his own responsibility in modi- fying it, and in insisting that it be carried out in a new and entirely impracticable way, and when Denny remonstrated again, he again acted on his own responsibility in removing him from command. This order and the one preceding it, although issued in the usual form, "by order of the governor and commander-in-chief," were in fact issued without the governor's knowledge, as he was at the Dalles at the time, and it was utterly impossible that he should know of them.
While Denny and the members of Company A may never have known that the thing they were ordered to do was no longer thought to be necessary, they all knew that the way they were directed to do it, by the second order, was entirely impracticable, and Denny's second protest was justifiable even if the danger of leaving his post with an insufficient garrison had not existed, and the injustice of the order
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removing him from command was palpable to those who knew the circumstances, as the governor did when he learned of it. He returned from the Dalles on June 30th, but the matter was seemingly not brought immediately to his atten- tion. The resolutions signed by the officers and men of the company, although dated June 28th, were not mailed at Seattle until July 22d, and were received at the governor's office about noon on the 23d. He then sent Lieutenent- Colonel Fitzhugh to explain to the company that they had placed themselves in an attitude of insubordination, that would prevent them from being honorably discharged, and to suggest that their resolutions be rescinded or withdrawn. But the colonel did not succeed. He first talked with the officers and then asked them to explain matters to the men. Then he had the company mustered, and talked to all to- gether-begged them, as he says, "to give the lie to General Wool's statement that the volunteers were inefficient and disobedient," but only two withdrew their names. The remainder were dishonorably discharged; but the governor did not withhold his recommendation that they be paid the same as the other volunteers.
In later years Mr. Denny's political opponents sometimes attempted to use this incident to his disfavor, but their efforts were more or less futile. They could not show that he had refused to obey an order regularly given; at most he had only remonstrated against doing what was manifestly impracticable. His courage had been sufficiently proven at other times, and as he was not in command when the mem- bers of the company prepared and signed their protest, he could not be held accountable for their indiscretion. Had he asked for a court of inquiry, as he might have done, he would doubtless have been sustained, but the war was over,
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and as the governor had condoned the technical breach of discipline by the members of the company by recommending that they be paid, he doubtless felt that there was no need to do this, and so the case was allowed to stand as it was.
On May 21st, another incident occurred, which, while in no way growing out of the events preceding it, helped to increase the public excitement and intensify the feeling between the volunteers, the people and the officers of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company. One of the volunteers from Camp Montgomery, while passing Fort Nisqually on that day, shot and killed an old Indian who was cutting wood not far from the road. It was as wanton an act as was ever committed. The murderer, whoever he was, was one of those brutal braggarts, so often seen by the immi- grants on their way across the continent, who wanted to kill an Indian for the mere sake of killing. The Indian was a harmless creature, who had long been employed at intervals by Dr. Tolmie, and the wood he was cutting when he was killed was for the fort. The doctor immediately made complaint to Colonel Shaw, and at his suggestion visited his camp, accompanied by Edward Huggins, his assistant, and some Indians who thought they would be able to identify the murderer. The object of their visit was quickly guessed by the volunteers. The two companies at the camp were paraded, and the Indians pointed out a man named Lake, as the guilty party-or at least the man whom they had seen passing the fort about the time the Indian was shot. Colonel Shaw ordered that he be deprived of his gun and arrested, but some of his comrades surrounded him and declared he should not be taken. They became very tumul- tuous, cheered Lake and threatened his accusers. For a time it seemed as if the authority of their officers might be
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set at defiance, and perhaps violence offered to Tolmie and Huggins, but they were finally allowed to depart, though without having received any satisfaction, and it appears that Lake was never punished.
Wanton murders of Indians by white men had occurred before in the territory, as they have on the border every- where, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and one of these was the cause of much anxiety to both the governor and the people for a long time. It is believed to have been the remote cause of the murder of Colonel Ebey, on Whidby Island, and of the attack on the settlers of Bellingham Bay, in which David Melville and George Brown were killed and beheaded, and their heads carried away by their murderers.
The warlike character of the Haidahs, who inhabited the shores of Queen Charlotte Sound, has heretofore been mentioned. They continued to visit the Sound in consider- able numbers, long after the settlers came. Though they came in their great war-canoes, they did not always come to make war. Some of them at times sought employment, and when they obtained it worked faithfully. A few of them were employed as scouts during the war and did good service.
In the spring of 1854 some of these Indians were employed by John L. Butler on his claim at Butler's Cove, about three miles north of Olympia. When they had completed the work they had engaged to do, they asked for payment, and a dispute arose, in which one of the Indians was killed by Butler and a man named Burt, who lived with him. The companions of the murdered Indian made complaint at Olympia, and Butler and Burt were arrested, but they were never tried or punished. The magistrate before whom they were arraigned discharged them, "because Thurston County
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had no jail, and it would be an expense to the county to retain them in custody."
There were many white people in the territory at the time who denounced this proceeding, and the crime which led to it, but this did not improve matters, so far as these Indians were concerned. They saw that the white man's law did not punish the red-handed murderers of their fellow, and naturally resorted to their own. As many of the settlers knew, this placed their own lives in jeopardy, for the Indian held the murderer, his kindred and his kind all responsible, though not in an equal degree. It was expected that reprisal would be made and it was.
Late in May ten large war-canoes, each carrying from 50 to 75 warriors, arrived at Vancouver Island, where eight of the party killed a man named Bagley, whom they supposed to be an American, though he was not. On hearing of this outrage Governor Douglass dispatched officers to pursue and capture the murderers, but they concealed themselves among the San Juan Islands and escaped.
On Saturday, May 24th, two of these large canoes appeared in Bellingham Bay, and landed their hostile occupants on the shore near the house of Mr. Clayton, who went out to meet them entirely unarmed. They pretended to be friendly, and offered to sell some blankets, but their conduct aroused his suspicions, and on pretence of going to his house to get money, he fled to the woods. He was pursued for a con- siderable distance, but reached the house of Captain Pattle, five miles away, in safety. Some Lummi Indians living near by were sent to warn the other settlers in the neighbor- hood, and Pattle and Clayton, with five other white men, all unarmed except for an old musket with a broken lock, which Pattle had, secured a canoe and put off from shore, hoping
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thus to be able to observe the movements of the Indians on both land and water, and make their escape if necessary. They remained on the water until near midnight, when they went ashore, thinking there were no hostiles in the neighbor- hood. But in this they were mistaken. An ambush had been prepared near the point where they landed. Two of the party, Melville and Brown, were left in the boat as a guard, and soon after the others had gone ashore, all were fired upon by the Indians. Those on shore fled to the timber and escaped, but Melville and Brown were killed and beheaded.
Having completed their bloody work the Indians sacked Clayton's cabin, and two days later fired into that of Alonzo M. Poe. They then visited Whidby Island, where they robbed several houses, after which they fled northward to their own country.
The settlers were at that time without means for giving pursuit, but when news of this marauding exploit reached Olympia, acting-Governor Mason went to Fort Steilacoom to make such arrangements as could be made there with the military, for the protection of the settlements, and then paid a visit to the lower Sound. There it was not possible to do much. The settlements were absolutely without means of defense, except so far as they could protect themselves, and must remain so until the government could send an armed vessel for their protection. On Mason's return to Olympia a militia company, with Colonel Ebey as captain, was enrolled, and arrangements were made to send it to any part of the Sound, upon call, by such means as could be secured at the time.
When the war clouds began to gather in the following year, all the settlers along the Sound realized that they were
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more than ever liable to attack from these warriors from the north. The danger from this direction was a constant source of anxiety to Mason, and later to Stevens. Other murders of Indians by white men, and of white men by Indians, had occurred in the lower Sound country, at Crescent and Holmes harbors, Swinomish flats, and in the neighbor- hood of Seattle, and it was realized that these, or some of them, might at any time be made the pretense for new out- rages. Efforts were accordingly made to procure the pre- sence in the Sound of a warship, or other government vessel, that would help in a measure at least to protect the settlers and their families, and it was these efforts that led to the coming of the Decatur, the Active, and finally the more efficient steamer Massachusetts.
The latter vessel, commanded by Captain Swartwout, arrived soon after the attack on Seattle, and replaced the Decatur. The John Hancock, also a steam-vessel, which had until recently been exploring in Bering Sea, but which since her return had been refitted at the Mare Island navy yard, joined the Massachusetts, and both ships, during the summer and fall, made cruises through the lower Sound, keeping the Indians advised of their presence. Most of these had a wholesome regard for "piah ships" (fire ships) as they called them, and their mere presence was sufficient to keep them from committing any disturbance.
But the warlike Haidahs were not terrorized by them. They came and went, in large parties or small, as they had been accustomed to do, but without committing any mischief until November, when a party of them landed near Steila- coom and became so troublesome that Captain Balch applied to Colonel Casey to have them removed from the Sound. Casey ordered them to leave, but they were very impudent,
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and would not go, and he invited Captain Swartwout to take them in hand. The same or another party had been making trouble in Henderson's Bay, where they had become involved in a pitched battle with some of the Sound Indians, and two of their number had been killed. By the time Swart- wout arrived at Fort Steilacoom, they had all departed for the lower Sound, whither he followed them and, on the 20th, found a large party of them encamped near Port Gamble. Here he brought his ship to anchor, and sent Lieutenant Young to have a talk with them, and induce them to leave the country if possible. He was to offer to tow their boats to Vancouver Island if they would go; if not successful, he was to invite two or three of their chiefs to come on board and have a talk with the captain.
But the Indians would have no conference with him. They met Lieutenant Young's boat at the shore, in large numbers, and with their arms in their hands threatened to attack him if he attempted to land, and he was forced to return to the ship. A second and larger party, consisting of 45 men, was then sent with a howitzer, to repeat the offer, but the Indians were even more defiant than before, declaring that they would not go until they liked, and in no case would they permit the ship to tow their boats.
During the night the ship was moved as close as possible to the Indian camp, and moored so as to present her broad- side toward it. A smaller steamer, the Traveller, and the launch of the Massachusetts, both having cannon on board, were also anchored in favorable positions for overawing the savages, and soon after daylight Lieutenant Semmes was sent to renew the demands made the day previous. After a long parley, in which the Indians still showed a very defiant and hostile spirit, he landed with twenty soldiers
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and marines, taking the howitzer of the launch with him. The Indians then seized their arms and ran to the woods, where they took positions behind trees and logs and prepared for battle. A shot from one of the guns on the Traveller was now fired and the Indians answered with a volley. The battle soon became general. A broadside from the ship sent shell and grapeshot into the woods and thickets where they seemed to be thickest, doing great execution. Semmes and his men, being protected now by the fire from the ships, charged the camp and destroyed it, together with all the property it contained. The canoes, which had been drawn up on shore, were also destroyed save one, and that was disabled later in the day, to prevent the Indians from escap- ing. The battle continued during the whole day, the Indians firing from their hiding places whenever any of the sailors or marines showed themselves within range of their guns. During the afternoon a squaw, who had been taken prisoner, was sent to them, to say that if they would surrender they would be sent across the straits, providing they would pro- mise never to return; but they returned the defiant reply that "they would fight as long as there was a man of them alive."
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